it's my kind of latte. try the simply delicious latte everyone can enjoy. america runs on dunkin'! good morning. four more years. president obama wins a second term. >> we know in our hearts that for the united states of america the best is yet to come. >> governor romney gracious in defeat. >> i ran for office because i'm concerned about america. this election is over, but our principles endure. >> for the president the hard fought campaign is behind him, but the real work of turning around a troubled and still divided country begins anew today, wednesday, november 7th, 2012. from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today,"

decision 2012, with matt lauer and savannah guthrie live from democracy plaza. >> and good morning. welcome to "today" on a wednesday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie with a late night here on democracy plaza or should i say early morning, but in either case, it wasn't as late as some people expected. >> not to take away from the hours you all put in last night, but fact of the matter is we were thinking that maybe we would come on the air this morning with this still undecided, and it was called fairly early in the evening by political standards in a divided country. >> yeah. remember the key state was ohio, and, of course, nbc news declared president obama the projected winner at 11:12 eastern time when ohio was called for the president. >> now, it took some time for the romney camp to actually acknowledge defeat in that state, but just before 1:00 a.m. governor romney called the president then and delivered his concession speech. the president followed with his

victory speech, something like 30 minutes later. >> all right. if you didn't stay up for all of it, here's where things stand this morning. in the electoral vote, president obama is ahead 303 votes to 206. we're waiting for results from just one state this morning, florida. if the president wins there, it would mark a sweep of all but one of the battleground states. >> that's right. governor romney won north carolina. in terms of the popular vote, the president holds a narrow lead, nearly 2 million more than governor romney. president obama will return to the white house facing a divided congress once again. republicans maintaining their majority in the house. the democrats actually strengthening their hold on the senate, including elizabeth warren's defeat of incumbent massachusetts senator scott brown. one of the most watched races of the election. one of the most expensive as well. we'll talk to senator-elect warren a little bit later. >> as we've been doing all week, here's the headlines.

"usa today" headline, "obama triumphs, midwest the key and political divide remains and in "the columbus dispatch." ohio wins with ohio. the "boston globe" reads "economy kept obama afloat. blocked romney win, and here's a forward thinking headline in "the wisconsin state journal." observers say paul ryan now a front-runner for the 2016 gop nomination. tell me we're not already talking about 2016. >> let the race begin. of course, we're keeping our eye on another big story as well this morning. can you probably see the flags moving pretty briskly behind us. that is a sign of what's to come as nasty weather, a nor'easter bears down on already storm-ravaged parts of this east coast. al is live along the new jersey shore with what we can expect. >> all right. we want to get right to our top story, the election results. nbc's kristen welker had a late night covering president obama's campaign, and she joins us this morning from chicago. kristen, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you, savannah. well, president obama is waking

up as a two-term president. a lot of people said it wouldn't be possible because of the stagnant economy, but he was able to rally his core constituents, women, african-americans, young voters works turned out in force to send him back to the white house. a triumphant president obama walked out to a jubilant crowd to claim victory, his wife and children by his side as he savored his hard fought re-election. >> a long campaign is now over. and whether i earned your vote or not, i have listened to you. i have learned from you, and you've made me a better president. >> the campaign was long and bitter, and the most expensive in history, but the president struck a tone of healing. >> i just spoke with governor romney and i congratulated him and paul ryan on a hard fought

campaign. we may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply. >> reporter: the president pledged to meet with mr. romney to try to come up with ways to bring the country together. at his boston headquarters the republican candidate spoke for only five minutes, also calling for unity. >> the nation, as you know, is at a critical point and a time like this we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work >> reporter: stagnant economy was the top issue for voters and almost scuttled the president's re-election. mr. obama telling the nation he got the message. >> you elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. and in the coming weeks and months i am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties, to meet the challenges we can only solve

together. >> reporter: still, the chicago crowd was electrified as the president delivered a soaring speech in which he thanked all those who supported him, including his family. >> sasha and malia, tyou're growing up to become two strong, smart, beaute full young women like your mom. michelle, i have never loved you mom. i have never been prouder to watch the rest of america fall in love with you, too, as our nation's first lady. >> reporter: the president's daughters are a little taller, his hair grayer, but in his speech mr. obama sounded a lot like the man america first elected four years ago. >> we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states. we are and forever will be the united states of america! >> reporter: now the president also joked that unlike 2008 the

first daughters will not be getting a dog this year. on a more serious note, according to a campaign adviser, the very first phone call that president obama made after governor romney called him to concede was to former president bill clinton, of course, one of his top surrogates during this campaign season. the obamas will head back to the white house a little bit later on today. matt? >> all right. kristen welker covering the campaign from chicago this morning. nbc's peter alexander is at the romney headquarters in boston. obvious disappointment there this morning. peter, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. late last night a source close to the romney campaign summed up their feelings in just three words. he said this one stings. the concession speech, as we witnessed last night, was short, but it was gracious. governor romney wishing the obama family well, also praying for the president, but you couldn't help but hear the disappointment in his voice at the end of what was a six-year quest for the white house. he was joined on stage by his deflated family, his wife ann

was there, their five sons and a lot of the grandkids as well. in addition, his running mate paul ryan and his wife janna. really little to celebrate last night. before 10:00 the aides cut the audio to the news broadcasts on the giant scene at the site. stunned silence and the band began to play and a little bit earlier when they were watching the returns at the hotel across the street the governor's body man tweeted out this picture. governor and ann having a great time with grandkids, but the idea of a great time was pretty generous use of the words last night. the governor felt very deeply, he really believed that he was going to win this, telling reporters, savannah, that he could feel it yesterday when he was in pennsylvania. this was a stop that was scheduled at the last minute and still more 1,000 people were there to greet him, just a couple days ago, an aide was asked what the governor's last meal would be, basically what he would be eating before he came out to give his speech. the aide said that he will live

beyond tuesday. nonetheless, this was a deflating and a stinging night for the campaign. i guess if there's any upside, the good news this morning is there is a new beginning. today officially marks the start of the 2016 campaign, so if it's all the same to you, we're going to do some landry, take a nap and we'll head back out on the trail. >> all you guys, 2016, enough already. peter, thanks. our political team is here to break things down. nbc's andrea mitchell, nbc news special correspondent tom brokaw and david gregory, moderator of "meet the press" collectively sleepless in democracy plaza. good morning, everybody. >> good morning. >> let's go to the bottom line, looking at the electoral results it looks like a rout. if you look at the national polling, it's a much closer race. how close is this race, david, and what does it mean for governing? >> well, i think it ultimately wasn't as close because the obama team did what it had to do it. believed the electorate would look a certain way, namely be considerably more diverse and that they could get those voters

out, despite the fact that a lot of younger voters, latinos, other minorities were not as fired up about the president four years on after a very tough four years, but they got those folks out, overwhelmed that enthusiasm for romney and against the president but there's still a lot of divisions here. we heard it from some leaders on capitol hill last night saying that there's no mandate here for the president. that will be debated given these results. >> leads me to the next question. we have a status quo election. you wake up, a democratic senate, a republican house. you have a president, president obama. business as usual. does that mean we're going to have status quo gridlock? in my mind it reminds me of an old expression it's like winning a pie-eating contest and the prize is more pie. >> you know. this is a more partisan house among the house republicans. the democrats did not pick up seats. they lost seats. the senate is a different animal. the democrats did very well, there but you have both houses with republican leadership saying no new taxes, no

compromise. there are some people willing to work around that. you've got john cornyn who made a very gracious statements. others leaning -- they have been working behind the scenes. can they come together, and can we find leaders outside of congress? i continue to believe that it's going to be the republican governors that end up leading the republican party to rethink its destiny because it is not in this -- it cannot ignore demographies. >> i want to talk about the republican party in a moment, but first this is not an abstract proposition can they work together, tom? we face a fiscal cliff, huge issues, and there's going to have to be some kind of compromise. >> judgment day the day after the election for everybody, frankly, and i don't think that there's anyone in the house or the senate or anyone that i know and certainly not the president who wants to go off that cliff come january because it's going to be a terrible scar, not only on those individuals and on their parties, but on this country at a very crucial time,

so my guess is that the president will initiate something reasonably bold, and as andrea indicated, i think there will be pressure from the outside in washington. simultaneously, there's something else under way this morning within the republican party saying we have to change. we cannot go on like this because we keep narrowing the base, and there are a lot of republicans, very senior republicans who have had success in the past and looked at that primary procedure and saw that as a prescription for what happened last night. they were running a retro campaign in the 21st century when things have changed, and the obama people were running a pote modern campaign with technology and looking at the diverse electorate we now have. >> some people say republican soul searching, other republicans say it will be civil war. >> no question. paul ryan is a leader of this party. is it that they were not conservative enough? the reality is mitt romney won a near historic portion of the white vote in america, and he suffered a very bad loss. that's because the country looks

different. it has changed. the party has got to find a way to reach out to latinos, the fastest growing voting bloc to become a more diverse party with the ability to shed some of the orthodoxy around taxes, around spending over the role of government, and this process is going to begin this morning, the soul searching and redefinition. >> andrea, tom and david, we know you'll be watching, but i hope you sleep at some point today. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> savannah, thanks. chuck todd, nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent continues to crunch the numbers, even at this early hour. chuck, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, matt. you know, one of the ways, the best ways to show this election is frank lit state of florida. yes, we have it uncalled right now and all the remaining vote, it really does look like, unless there's some sort of accident in florida, missing ballots, and it is florida, so you never know, the president is likely to carry florida, but i want to show you sort of how this demographic time bomb went off and caught the republicans off guard. it happened right here in the

i-4 corridor, and in particular right here in on the other hand ore. i'm going to give you osceola county, the president won by 25,000 votes. two cycles ago it was a county won by president bush with 5,000 votes. the big change is an influx of cuban and hispanics. florida shows you, the next place where this will happen, where the demographic time bomb went off. going to happen in georgia. the fastest growing bloc in georgia is spanish, texas and the state of arizona and this is where, to just sort of add to this -- add to this story line here of what the republican party is facing, this issue with hispanics becoming a 75-25

democratic voting bloc, mitt romney outperformed john mccain and still lost. >> using his gadgets to illustrate what david gregory was talking about here in the studio. chuck, thank you very much. for more on how the president won a second term let's go to nbc's tamron hall. she's been looking at results of the nbc news national exit polling. good morning to you. >> reporter: it's a similar story as you heard from david gregory and chuck todd. four years ago african-american voters were certainly loyal to the president and that's what we saw this time around. the president getting 93% of the black vote. as much as he did four years ago. as chuck also mentioned, in the latino population, seven in ten of that vote, a little better than four years ago when he got 67% and 10% of this year's electorate compared to 9,000 in

2008. president obama got two-thirds of unmarried women and won 60% of voters under the age of 30. that's less than the 66% of 2008. a gender gap also worked in the president's favor. he edged among women nine points. we're talking 55% to 44% which more than made up for the eight-point loss he suffered against men. optimism, regarding the direction of the economy, won out over people's negative ceilings that we heard so much about. 39% of voters said the economy is getting better. that is a decent number. 29% said things about the same and 30% said the economy is getting worse. among those people, take a look at this number. 88%, a whopping 88% voted for obama. so you see more insight in these numbers and perhaps it all comes together and makes sense compared to the exit poll and then the final results that we saw. matt. >> tamron, thank you very much. as we said, one of the

president's keys to victories, his wins in battleground states like virginia. that state was also home to a very bitter senate race. former governor and ex-dnc chairman tim kaine holding off a challenge from republican george allen. senator-elect kaine joins us now. >> matt, great to be back with you guys. >> what made the difference. you heard our experts talk about what made the difference nationally what. made the difference for you and for the president in virginia? >> well, matt, first, virginia has moved from reliably red to just complete battleground. some people thought the president's win here in 2008 was a fluke, but it's not, as we showed last night. the president won by about three points. i won by about five. the growth of the northern virginia suburbs around d.c. has been very helpful, but we're just also seeing, you know, virginians embracing an economy that is quite strong here. they believe in a balanced approach to dealing with the deficit and especially virginians want people who can

find common ground. that's who we are and that's what it said last night. >> i want to talk about the common grown. the electoral number 303 for the president, and we don't know what happened in florida yet, so obviously people are going to say does that give him a mandate? how would you qualify or quantify the mandate that president obama won last night? >> well, the way i would say it, matt, is this. i think the president definitely has a mandate likely with florida, but because the nation put a democratic senate and made it a little more democratic and a republican house and kept it, you know, fairly republican, i basically think the american public is saying to us we want cooperative government. we don't want all the levers in one party's hands. we're going to force you to work together. >> didn't the american public say that after 2008 as well, and look what happened? why is it going to be different? >> because the -- there's so much bad that's going to happen by year end if we go over this fiscal cliff that i think that's going to bring both parties together for a solution that

will then springboard into a bigger picture budget deal, and second i was listening earlier. i do think the republican party is going to look in the mirror and decide that they need to work hand in hand with democrats on issues like immigration reform. in the future of the republican party, they are not going to continue to put such a hard face towards latino voters, and so that's going to provide an opportunity for another significant issue where we can build bridges i think early in 2013. >> going back to the fiscal cliff for a second, negotiations over that. you're going to have paul ryan, governor romney's running mate and the chairman of the house budget committee sitting across the table from the president. what do you think that's going to be like? >> well, it's -- you know, look, i think these folks have been in this line of work for a while. there's going to be some tender feels, but at the end of the day we have to put the country first. nobody wants to see this fiscal cliff without a deal because the cuts are severe and the tax increases are severe, and so we've got to find a path forward, and i think -- i was

talking to senator webb who is a wonderful senator who i will be succeeding in the senate, and he was reminding me, a senate staffer a number of years ago, he said we see these things happen. there's some jousting before election day, but he feels real confident that we'll find a deal, and i think that deal will start to unleash a shackle on the american economy. congress is the major shackle right now, the dysfunction in congress. we see other signs of lift. we've got to have a congress that can work together and between now and year end i think that's going to be our opportunity to take that first big step. >> senator-elect tim kaine down in virginia, once again, congratulations to you. >> thanks, matt. >> much more on the election in just a couple of minutes. >> we want to get the latest on the powerful storm that's taking aim as the hard-hit east coast just on the heels of sandy. al is in point pleasant beach, new jersey again this morning. al, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah and matt. they built this birm, this dune about a mile long yesterday to

protect against this nor'easter coming in. they are putting in an access point. they will be bringing in dump trucks to put in more sand to protect against storm surge. let's show you the nor'easter right now. it's making its way up along the new jersey coast. it's bringing in strong northeasterly winds. wind gusts of anywhere from 30 to 40 miles per hour. take a look. we're expecting airport delays today along the i-95 corridor. we're also expecting storm surge coming in, anywhere from 2 to 4 feet of storm surge along the eastern seaboard, and as you can see that storm surge is going to be causing some problems as far as beach erosion, flooding, shore waves of 8 to 12 feet and wind gusts of 65 miles per hour. and we've got rain with this system. we're talking about anywhere from 2 to 4 inches of rain, but look at what's behind it. along the new york-new jersey shoreline, on into pennsylvania and upstate new york we're

talking about snow. some areas picking up 6 to 9 inches of snow. the philadelphia area has a winter storm warning in effect for tonight on into tomorrow. so big effects due to this nor'easter after sandy pound the >> good morning.re this. it will be a breezy and chilly day with off and on rain showers. some snow might stick on the >> savannah, you talk about big trucks, they are bringing in big

trucks to get a big, big job done. >> get out of the way there, al. they have a lot of work to do. thank you so much. we'll check back in with you in a bit. just ahead, a lot more on the election on the morning after including what the next four years will look like for the first family, but first, this is "today" on nbc.

just ahead, we'll try to figure out what last night's results mean for main street and wall street. >> but first a check of your local news and weather.

>> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am stan stovall. maryland voters made history by approving same-sex marriage. along with maine, maryland becomes one of the first states in the nation to have it approved by a majority of voters. same-sex marriage was a huge priority for gov. martin o'malley this year. let's check on your morning

commute. here is sarah caldwell and traffic pulse 11. >> you want to avoid the harrisburg expressway or at least delay your departure for a while, because we have heavy delays due to an accident at middletown road. montford avenue and coldspring lane, police activity to avoid. harford county, 24 miles per hour for mountain road to the 895 split. westbound 50 and route boulevard, still have a right lane taken up by an accident in annapolis. traffic is getting by ok, with all the activity of to the right shoulder. just a mess on southbound 83. it is inching along from approaching york road all the way down to middletown road. the accident is taking a blind. -- lane. >> this is going to drift up

towards baltimore over the next couple of hours. temperatures in the upper 30's and low 40's. they're not going to move much as you head to the dead. it will be cold enough for the rainshowers once they arrive. some of you could get a minor accumulation, an inch or less, mostly on the grass. temperatures in the upper 30's and low 40's. this will get much better as we head towards the weekend. clearing up on saturday and

i return to the white house more determined and inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead. >> this is a time of great challenges for america, and i pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation. >> president obama and governor romney addressing their supporters overnight after a hard fought campaign and a long one, too. the president returning to the white house for a second term after taking both the electoral and popular vote. it's 7:30 now on this wednesday morning. it's the 7th day of november, 2012. good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer here on democracy plaza. >> can you take the shot where you see the skating rink behind us with the map of the united

states down there. we've got the states in red or blue, all decided except that one in the foreground right there. that is the state of florida, still clear because the outcome there is unclear. we're not sure who's won that state. still trying to figure it out. >> still waiting for votes among the miami-dade area, an area where democrats usually do well. >> a moot point, the election has been decided but the economy is front and center in this cape. it will remain a big issue for the americans as we move forward, so how is the president's re-election playing on wall street, for example? we'll be getting into that. >> all right. also a big win for democrats in one of the country's most closely watched and contentious and expensive races. coming up, we're going to talk to massachusetts senator-elect elizabeth warren. >> before we get to that, let's go to nbc's capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell who is in columbus, ohio with more on some of the congressional races.

kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. well, democrats did something that at the beginning of this election year seemed unlikely. they held on to control of the senate. they did that despite having to defend 23 of their own seats. they pulled off big wins, big upsets, and the new senate will have more women than ever before. democrats' winning streak started in massachusetts with harvard law professor turned senator-elect elizabeth warren. >> for every family that has been chipped and squeezed and hammered, we're going to fight for a level playing field and we're going to put people back to work. >> reporter: warren knocked out republican scott brown who almost three years ago gave the tea party its first big win. his call for bipartisanship fell short. >> i kept my promise to you to be that independent voice for massachusetts, and i have never ever ever regretted any decision that i made for you.

>> reporter: in high stakes virginia tim kaine, former democratic national party chairman and governor, defeated george allen in the most expensive senate race. >> our victory tonight proves that it's the number of people who stand with you, not the number of zeros behind a check. >> reporter: red state defeats for republicans in missouri and indiana after tea party-backed todd akin and richard mourdock each made controversial comments about rape and pregnancy. missouri's democratic incumbent claire mccaskill gets a second term. >> i'll continue to be a senator that works across the aisle in a bipartisan way to find the compromises to solve problems for every missouri family, not just the families of those that voted for me. >> reporter: democrat joe donnelly takes indiana's seat from the gop. >> i'm not going there as one party senator or the other party's senator. i'm going there as your senator to work for your family. >> reporter: defeat in connecticut for republican linda

mcmahon, the world wrestling executive who spent $100 million of her own money in two failed senate campaigns. >> i would really rather have won, but we gave it an incredibly, incredibly good fight. >> reporter: a tough night for former bush administration official tommy thompson. >> it's not the way i planned it. >> reporter: but his state, wisconsin, made history, electing its first woman and the nation's first openly gay senator, democrat tammy baldwin. >> i will stand up for you, and i ask you to work with me to move our state forward. >> reporter: republicans did take one seat away from democrats in nebraska, with tea party-backed deb fischer. >> i thank each of you for placing your trust in me. i will not let you down. >> reporter: and with senator-elect deb fischer she will be 1 of 19 women in the u.s. senate, a record number and voters in connecticut will give

us our youngest senator choosing democrat chris murphy, a member of congress right now, and now the democrats will hold on to control. nothing will change on the house side either where republicans will be in charge with lots of work to do. matt? >> all right. kelly o'donnell for us, thank you very much. elizabeth warren is now the senator-elect from massachusetts after defeating incumbent republican scott brown. senator-elect warren, good to see you, good morning to you and congratulations. >> thank you. good morning to you. >> you've become the first woman to be elected to the senate from massachusetts. you will hold a seat that was held for nearly 50 years by ted kennedy. at some point last night, as your victory was announced, you guaranteed that democrats would hold the senate. just talk to me about the significance of your win. >> well, this is a win for america's middle class. this is a win for every family that really has been hammered and chipped and squeezed for a generation now. i got in this race because those families need someone else in the senate to fight for them, and that's what i'm going to do.

>> you are going to washington, and it is incredibly divided. >> yeah. >> it has been for a very long time but some people think it's as bad now as it ever has been. are you going to washington are you in the mood to compromise? >> you know, i think the key is we're in the immediate to work, and we've got to work on behalf of the people who sent us there, and i think they sent a pretty clear message last night. the message is they are tired of this. they have to see our country come together, and we've got to be looking at things not for special interests, not for the big guys but for america's working families. >> with all due respect, let me go back at that. are you in the mood to compromise, and can you tell me one specific area where you will be willing to compromise with republicans for the good of your constituents. >> sure. and that's on the deficit. you know, i look at that deficit, $16 trillion. we've got to find a way to bring that deficit down, and that

means that we've got to both cut our spending, and we've got to raise some more revenue, and i think there's lots of room for compromise in there. >> let's talk about spending. i mean, your race, boy, was it expensiv expensive. >> no kidding. >> estimates of $66 million. if this continues, senator-elect warren, can anything good come out of this, a system where such vast amounts of money are required and in some cases trump basic ideas? >> you know, i think that where we are on money is terrible. i want to say one other part about it because i think it's important about this race. we had literally tens of thousands of donors. you know that more than half our contributions were $25 or less. 80% were $50 or less. so some of these races at least were not just about big money interest, they were also about a lot of folks who said this matters to me and i'm going to be part of this. >> massachusetts senator-elect,

elizabeth warren. good luck to you and congratulations. >> thanks you. >> let's get a check of the weather and this powerful storm that is set to bring some heavy winds and even flooding to areas here on the northeast coast that do not need it. al's along the jersey shore. al? >> hey, matt. so it's time to play beat the clock for all these crews who are working to build up the berm and build up the beach here and get a load of some of the big trucks they are bringing in to really build up a barrier, to break -- to make sure that the ocean does not make its way in here because this nor'easter is awfully powerful. going to bring in a big storm surge of about anywhere from 4 to 6 feet possible. again, even dangerous waves and a lot of wind. let's show you what else is going on. it is chilly here in the east, and that's because we've got a big trough of low pressure. jet stream dips down to the south. high pressure out west and so

look at out west. temperatures, anywhere from 9 to 21 degrees above normal. in the east new york city 16 degrees below normal at 41. 48 in richmond and 58 in memphis, and so can you see those cold temperatures in the northeast. that's why we're going to be seeing snow out of this system. that's what's going on around g >> good morning. it will be a breezy and chilly with off and on rain showers and possibly some snow. >> and that's your latest weather. we're going to look at this nor'easter's impacts in detail coming up in the next half hour. matt? >> all right, al.

thank you very much. stay warm. up next, how wall street is likely to react to president obama's victory. a little later on, on a lighter note, a live interview with twilight star kristen stewart, but first these messages. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th,

five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story.

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let's turn to jim cramer the host of "mad money" on cnbc. good morning to you >> good morning, savannah. >> when the markets open, do you expect reaction that will be discernible that we can trace to the election? >> not that radical. we did go up yesterday. a lot of what's been going on is that there's a sense that there's a devil, you know, on wall street, president obama, and an angel you don't know, and i think that's wrong. i think there's not going to be that much difference between whoever won versus the fiscal cliff is what will really impact wall street. >> the devil you know versus the devil you don't and wall street likes certainty and there's not a lot of certainty. we're facing spending cuts, potential tax hikes. what do you think will happen and how do you think that uncertainty will be a drag on the economy? >> well, i think that the unknown says, you know what? don't do anything here if you have an international business. better to do something in asia. don't hire here, hire in mexico. don't start a new business because it might fail, much more odds that it will fail, and certainly i hate to tell people to change their portfolio, but

in a taxable portfolio, not an i.r.a., you're going to pay a huge amount in dividend tax, huge, very bad. >> the president has campaigned on the fact that he wants to roll back the bush tax rates for the wealthiest americans, something republicans oppose. we'll see how it shakes out. with the economy not in recession but in recovery, a fragile economy what, would the effect of a tax hike be? >> i think this is a moment where we still have very high unemployment. still trying to get people to hire other people, and if you get a tax hike, you just don't want to do it. it's just better to wait, and that -- that waiting means no decline in unemployment. >> game it out for me. there are sectors happy about the results last night and sectors of the economy that will not be. >> well, what's been working is housing, and there's a sense that ben bernanke, the fed chairman, has kept rates low. housing continues to recover. retail continues to recover. the banks, no. i was listening to elizabeth warren, represents a particular kind of style against the banks.

the banks will continue to underperform and continue to pay more taxes and certainly more regulation. >> and the president has had a rocky relationship with business. what can he do in the next term to repair that? >> a lot of people are saying he'll suddenly take the calls of ceos. nothing that tells me he will. >> cnbc's jim cramer, host of "mad money" on cnbc. thanks very much. more tonight on your show 6:00 and 11:00 eastern time on nbc. we're back with much more including how election night played out online, right after this. hi.

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talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbaa.lt dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. we're back now at democracy plaza. billions spent by president obama and governor romney. thousands of miles logged on the campaign trail. it all set the stage for a very dramatic night, and we've got some of it here. >> good morning. now it's your turn. >> we're already seeing a lot of traffic at polling sites all across the country. >> the power is with the people. >> less than three hours the first polls will close. >> i love election night. >> pull up a chair, get comfortable. we have every reason to believe we're going to be at this for a good long while. >> how good is romney's offense? how good is the president's defense? >> such a different year.

have you to think back where we were four years ago. we elected the first african-american president. >> this is the most important number of the night. watching that, electoral vote. the road to 270. >> what's the key for mitt romney, to go on the offense, to turn a 2008 obama state into a 2012 romney state. >> looking at these county returns, very closely, and i'm obsessed here a little bit watching orange county. florida is going to be razor tight all night. >> i would love geeking out with chuck todd. >> paul ryan's home state has fallen to the democrats. >> the midwestern firewall is hold are for president barack obama. >> that wisconsin call is such a big deal because it is now just ohio away for the president. >> we've been following florida. i want to go back to the drama. >> 2,000 beepers are going off already in florida because everybody knew this would be a tight race. >> still use deepers down there. >> speaking to obama campaign officials who say they like what they are seeing right now.

>> the words of one source close to the romney campaign so far this night is stinging. >> it wasn't a very romantic -- >> hang on, chuck. hang on, chuck. >> here we go. >> we've got some critical calls. >> yes, we do. >> let's see here. roll them. ohio, president barack obama. >> brian, there's no what ifs anymore, that's done. >> we have gone from excited to elected. >> president barack obama has become the fourth democrat in the last 100 years to be elected to a second term. >> i so wish that i had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader, and so ann and i join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation. >> we're not as divided as our politics suggest. we're not as cynical as the

pundits believe, and we'll remain a collective of red states and blue states. we will forever be the united states of america, and together with your help and god's grace we will continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth. thank you, america. god bless you. god bless these united states. >> what a night. and as the results came in, the social media websites were abuzz. a record breaking number of people weighing in. this is the first twitter election. >> 20 million tweets as of 10:00. >> 327,453 per minute at 11:19 est when nbc called ohio for the president. >> a couple of popular subjects, took a beating, governor chris christie of new jersey, a lot of people angry about his embrace of barack obama over the last week, heard his explanation, but

one here says five bucks that governor christie voted for barack obama. >> and another said hope the bromance was with it. >> this election is a total sham and a travesty. we're not a democracy. i don't even know what to say. >> catering to his supporters, but there are a lot of other people that think donald has become slightly unhinged on this subject. >> and here we go. hillary 2016, a trending topic within moments. we'll have more after your local news. job can be frustrating. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you. not only that, we're using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum. so that when you find the job you want you'll be a perfect fit. let's get to work.

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>>. >> this is wbal-tv 11 is today in baltimore. >> here is sarah caldwell. >> delays on southbound 83 due to an accident at middletown road. expect to be in traffic for a while there. we will update you when a it is. water main break we're hearing about. nine miles per hour on the outer loop north side.

what will road in st. margaret's road, watch for debris in the road there. now 25 miles per hour on eastbound i-70 pickwick live look at traffic. this the pace of things approaching belair road towards dulaney valley. , accident expressway on the sap onset of 83 trade that is the latest on traffic pulse 11. >> the weather has been quiet around baltimore and we're still picking up scattered, light rain showers on the south and east of the city. that should intensify as we go to the afternoon. rain mixing with snow most likely this afternoon. it might be a little accumulation in some

neighborhoods. high temperatures between 37 and 42. clear enough going into the weekend. it will be warmer.

8:00 now on a wednesday morning, november 7th, 2012. it is the morning after the election here on democracy plaza. president obama vowing the best is yet to come in his victory speech to supporters last night in chicago and across the country. i'm matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. al will have the latest on this storm that's about to hit the east coast, this nor'easter in just a little while. >> also ahead what. will four more years in the white house mean for the first family, especially the obama girls, sasha and malia. we'll get into that, and did you see that picture online last night. the president tweeted this, four more years. he's got a picture of him hugging his wife. that was re-tweeted nearly half

a million times. >> as of 3:00 a.m. the obama four more years photo was about to become one of the most liked photos on facebook. has to get 2 million likes to do that so we're not sure if it will get there. getting a lot of attention this morning. coming up, we're going to look at what's next for governor mitt romney following this hard fought campaign. will it be his last political campaign? >> then we'll change the subject a little bit. the final installment of the "twilight" saga hits theaters next weekend, and this morning we'll catch up with one of its stars. kristen stewart is here to tell us what to expect from the next movie and we'll talk about some other things going on in her life as well. >> first off. more on the election. president obama winning both the electoral college and the popular vote, a night highlighted by key victories in the swing states of ohio, virginia and colorado. nbc's kristen welker is in chicago covering the president's campaign. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, matt. the expectations for president

obama's second term are high, especially given the stagnant economy, but right now he and his campaign are still celebrating. they were able to rally the president's core constituents, women, latinos, african-americans, who turned out in big numbers to send him back to the white house. this was the scene here in chicago just a few hours ago. the crowd erupted into excitement when president obama and the first family walked out on to the stage. he delivered a soaring victory speech in which he pledged to meet with mitt romney and also to work harder to foster a spirit of bipartisanship by reaching across the aisle, to work with americans on deficit reduction, immigration reform and jobs. jobs were, of course, the number one issue for voters, the economy almost costing the president his re-election. he made it clear he got the message. >> a long campaign is now over.

and whether i earned your vote or not, i have listened to you. i have learned from you, and you've made me a better president. >> now president obama also joked that unlike 2008 the first daughters will not be getting a dog this year. the first family still here in chicago. they will head back to the white house a little later on today. >> kristen welker in chicago this morning, and an update. savannah has an update on the photo. >> know you're dying to know. 2.9 million likes on facebook. that's twitter, of course, but what a moment. we want to get a check on the moment's other top stories. natalie morales over at the news desk. natalie, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah and matt. good morning, everyone. president obama will begin his second term once again working with a divided congress. democrats did strengthen their hold on the senate, but republicans hung on to their majority in the house.

on other issues, maine and maryland became the first state to approve same-sex marriage by public vote. minnesota voters defeated a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage, and voters in colorado and washington state became the first to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, setting up a battle with the federal government which still outlaws the drug. well, for the second time in just over a week the northeast is bracing for a powerful storm. this one will not pack the same punch as hurricane sandy, but it does threaten to cause new flooding and power outages, even as crews struggle to repair the remaining damage from last week's storm. house lawmakers have subpoenaed the director of a massachusetts pharmacy linked to the deadly meningitis outbreak. director barry kaden had indicated earlier that he would not voluntarily attend a congressional hearing next week. federal officials say more than 400 people have been sickened by contaminated steroid shots from the new england compounding

center. 30 deaths have also been reported. at least three people are dead and two others are wounded after a workplace shooting in fresno, california. police say an employee at a chicken processing plant, 42-year-old lawrence jones, moved methodically among his victims tuesday shooting them at close range. he died later apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. officials say jones had an extensive criminal record and was recently paroled. now for a special election edition of what is trending, our quick roundup of what has you talking online. as you heard, after that victory was called first by nbc news president obama tweeted this favorite picture of him hugging his wife with the message that read four more years. it did go on to become the most re-tweeted tweet in the history of this site, moving a justin bieber tweet into second place. and it is going to be hard to come up with a good excuse for not voting after you hear this, thanks to the example set by one chicago-area woman this.

mother to be stopped to vote tuesday even though she had gone into labor with her contractions five minutes apart. she then drove herself to the hospital. the first-time voter said i wanted this to be a stepping stone for my daughter. now, that is one incredible woman. and mashup artist barack stubs might sum up how president obama feels this morning. >> can't touch this. ♪ music hits me so hard >> thank you. for blessing me. >> it feels good. >> and i'm known as such, and this is a -- >> you can't touch me. >> real m.c. hammer tweeted last night that by re-electing the president is making a huge statement. give barack stubs credit for that. >> lots of hours in the edit

machine, that's for sure. we want to get a check of the weather and the nor'easter bearing down already on storm-ravaged areas in the east coast. al is in point pleasant beach, new jersey this morning. again. >> they have done incredible work along the beach. in one day you look down the beach. you see this eight-foot dune of sand. they took all the sand on the streets here that we showed you last week. they collected it, and they have now created this barrier, and they are replenishing the beach. pretty amazing stuff. okay. let's look at this nor'easter coming in. we're expecting not only heavy rain but obviously airport delays along the i-95 corridor from washington, d.c. up to boston. this system was going to be bringing in heavy rain, strong winds, and that's going to cause coastal flooding, beach erosion, waves of 8 to 12 feet beating against the shoreline and wind gusts of up to 65 miles per hour. we also have to worry about rain with this system and winds.

the wind gusts are going to be brutal. we're also looking at heavy rain and snow. the rainfall amounts along the coast about 1 to 2 inches. that's not the worst of it. as colder air is drawn into this system, it's going to be bringing in some heavy snow. we already have winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings down in southern new jersey and the pennsylvania area and the philadelphia area. we're also looking at heavy snow, northern and central new jersey on into new york state, and the weather service, i should say, the weather channel has named this storm, as they are going to be naming winter storms. >> good morning.e calling it will be a breezy and chilly day with off and on rain showers. some snow might stick on the

>> and that's your latest weather. matt? >> al, i feel like i haven't seen you in months. you've been out on that beach way too much. get back and see us, okay? >> i don't know. i think tomorrow we may be dealing with snow. >> all right. >> well, then i'll see you next week. >> up next. what can we expect to see from the first family over the next four years. and kristen stewart will be here live to talk about all kinds of things, but first these messages. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need

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the family is a tremendous window to the voting public. this white house will be home to the obamas for four more years. early this morning president obama began his victory celebration with his wife, michelle, and daughters malia and sasha on stage with him. their appearance was brief but significant. like all presidents obama's family is key to his success. for generations of americans, the kennedy white house is the iconic standard for the first family. young and beautiful, their t two-child home represented an american family portrait. >> a severance hope. was always depicted and portrayed by those many, many photographs of the children playing. >> ignition. >> reporter: as the space age took off jackie kennedy stood at the forefront. the world of fashion and arts and culture and her grace softened the hard edge of some of the president kennedy's

touchest adversaries, like the soviet union nikita khrushchev. in the wake of her husband's death, she led the nation through grief, her son providing a tribute, more eloquent than any other words. >> i just want to thank you for making kids say no to drugs. >> reporter: nancy reagan championed the anti-drug just say no campaign. her son ron was a striking contrast to his father's rugged conservative image making headlines with a risque appearance on "saturday night live" ♪ take the old records off the shelf ♪ >> reporter: as first lady hillary clinton led a bold attempt at health care reform. her daughter chelsea stood as a steady presence through the highs and lows of eight years in office. away from the political arena, the first families have always provided welcome opportunities to see the commander in chief as just a husband and a dad.

♪ it's a beautiful day >> reporter: like the kennedys the obamas swept into the first term on the promise of hope. mrs. obama has delivered as a motivated campaigner in the battle against childhood obesity and promoting the cause of military families. and now with four more years ahead the first family continues to be the president's strongest base of support. >> when we sit down for dinner, he is there for me, for sasha and malia and there as a dad and that's one of the many reasons why i love him so much. >> reporter: in their first term the obama children were protected from overexposure. that is easier to do when the girls were younger. now the president has to deal with something that all parents can relate to, adolescence. savannah? >> teenagers. andrea mitchell. >> reporter: teenagers. >> thank you so much. washington correspondent for "people" magazine joins us. sandra, good morning to you. now a first family heading into a second term. generally do you see changes in how things are? does the family feel liberated,

loosened up in a second term in. >> i do think without that re-election cloud looming, you know, they feel a little freer to kind of follow their hearts but also, you know, with malia entering the teenage years and, you know, high school, she's going to be looking at colleges before the end of this term. i do think they will draw the curtain of privacy around the girls a little bit more, you know, now that we aren't showcasing so much their family life for political reasons. >> at the same time, a little harder to do that, right, when the girls are teenagers. you can't lock them up in the white house. they may want to go out and do their own thing. >> and they will, and just like jenna did and chelsea before her and the press has really respected, the mainstream press has really respected those boundaries. we don't see the girls out, though they are out with their friends at movies and things around d.c. that we don't see because the cameras look away. >> let's talk about the first lady. she's extremely popular, one of the most popular members of the administration. she's taken on a couple of pet issues, childhood obesity,

military families. do you see her adding on issues, and maybe taking on things that are a little bit more controversial, taking more of a stand. she has played it a bit safe. >> i think she's not only going to take on new issues. she's talked about adding were im's health to her portfolio of causes while she continues to build let's move and her childhood obesity initiative and family initiative and i think she will take on a new role. yesterday what none of us on the national level saw is she spent hours doing radio and satellite tv interviews and turning out the vote, and she has become such a sort of asset to the president and deliverable that i don't think the west wing is going to let her go very easily. she may very well be out there on the -- out there with the public explaining her husband's policies in the way that everybody agrees he didn't do very well himself the first term. >> and by the way, she was a reluctant political spouse, didn't embrace it right away, but shy seems to have done it

now. good to get your perspective, thank you. still ahead, what the future holds for mitt romney. up next we'll switch gears and catch up with "twilight" star kristen stewart. my doctor told me calcium

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back now at 8:22, the first "twilight" film opened back in 2008 and now four movies and $2.5 billion later in ticket sales, the final installment of the franchise is about to hit thesers. >> it is called the "twilight" saga "breaking dawn part 2," and in this one she's now a mother, a vampire and ready to live her life. >> welcome home. >> we thought you guys might like a place of your own. >> what do you think? >> i think it's perfect. >> go inside. >> this is our home. >> vampires don't sleep.

>> it's not intended for sleep. >> kristen stewart, good morning, nice to have you back. >> thank you. >> so we were chatting a little bit in the commercial break here, and were you saying that, you know, okay, there's a bit of melancholy here. you're happy that the story has been told. a lot has changed with bela but the instant it was over you missed it. >> yeah. to have five years with one main focus, it's -- it's just different, five weeks, five months, so, yeah, i definitely -- i'm okay walking away but at the same time the i could -- i could keep it for another five. >> well, add together degree of difficulty for you, the last two movies were shot together, as i understand it, so in one movie you're human and pregnant and in the next movie you're kind of a butt-kicking vampire. was it hard to make that adjustment every day? >> yeah. i -- i was really lucky. playing bela for so long as a human really helped me play her

as a vampire, didn't seem like a huge leap into fantasyland. it was a natural step for her, not to be cheesy, she really was born to do that. she, she. >> the character there, make a distinction. >> she's really, really strong and a character and, you know, the strength that you see as being a newborn vampire to, you know, being very self-assured, so how did that change your perspective in playing it that way? >> it always felt like if you took the fact that she was a vampire away, a fully realized version of who you always knew she could be. always self-assure. fear is a funny thing at that age. it can be a motivator or cripple you and bela has always been the type of person who once one of those walls are broken down, she doesn't want to build it back up. she lends herself to --

>> kristen, you have so many fans, and they will mad at us if they don't ask you and they follow your life and want to know are you back together with robert pattinson? >> funny you >> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. here is traffic pulse 11 and sarah caldwell. you up-to-date on the house for expressway. starting to ease up, but we're looking at 20 mi. per hour. all of this -- 16 miles per hour. 12 miles per hour.

seven chapel road, suite have a downed tree, and at two lanes are blocked. debris in the road at st. margaret's road. this is jammed approaching belair road towards dulaney valley. lingering delays from york road towards middletown. the accident is off to the side. >> so for the weather has been quiet. not a whole lot showing up on hd doppler. that should fill in in the afternoon and evening hours. breezy and cold is our forecast. chance for rain and snow showers.

there is even a possibility to get a minor accumulation in your neighborhood, a mostly just rain and snow showers.

8:30 now on this wednesday morning. it is the 7th day of november, 2012. out here on rockefeller plaza. our crowd is here on this post-election day. another big day coming up. >> yeah, but can i say, you know what? you can feel it's going to be nasty. >> yeah. >> it's got that feel in the air.

>> dampness. there's the wind. there's the dampness and like a pressure you can feel. >> why are we here outside? >> because they are out here. >> well, can you hear the music over our happy crowd. we've been playing one direction and that is our way of reminding you they will be here next tuesday live on our plaza. it is going to be a tween event. >> on my ipad, that's all it says. tween event. >> and also that poster you have had your dressing room, the neon one. >> yes. >> also ahead, it's been an extremely hard fought and long campaign for president, so the question some people might be asking this morning is where does mitt romney go from here? we're going to take a look at that in just a couple of minutes. >> all right. one of the issues on the campaign, jobs, a lot of people unemployed. where do you go? where do you find the jobs and

we'll tell your best bet if you're starting the career or nearing the end of it. >> all right. if it feels windy and cold here, imagine how it feels along the beach in point pleasant, new jersey. al is hiding in a dump truck apparently. >> oh, you're not in the dump truck. it's just the angle. >> no, no, exactly. that's me. i'm bob the builder. we can fix it, yes, we can. that's what the ocean county workers have been doing. dumping sand that was on the streets, deposited by sandy a week ago. taking it. building this dune in one day. this eight-foot dune. it stretches about a mile all the way out to protect from the effects of this nor'easter that the weather channel has named athena. they are naming winter storms this year. let's see what we've got today. we're looking at this nor'easter affecting the northeast with lots of rain, wind. later on interior sections seeing up to 10 inches of snow

possible. fog through the great lakes. mountain snows pacific northwest. sunny through the southwest and some fog in central california. sunshine through the gulf coast. tomorrow a mix of rain and snow pacific northwest. rain making its way down the california coast. rain through the northern plains. sunny and mild through the gulf coast but we are looking for a mix of rain and snow throughout northe >> good morning. it will be a breezy and chilly with off and on rain showers and possibly some snow. >> that's your latest weather.

coming up at 9:00, matt, i'm going to ride in the front end load remember? good. live out all your childhood fantasies, al. appreciate it. when we come back, what's next for mitt romney. that's coming up, but first this is "today" on nbc.

as we come back on this morning after the election, we're looking at some of the tweets people have been sending us about the night that was. and after coming so close, the question now is where does governor romney go from here? well, "today" national correspondent jamie gangel is taking a look at that this morning. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. no question there's going to be a lot of time spent reviewing and analyzing what went wrong, but down the road expectations are myth romney will return to private life. in the final days of campaigning

mitt romney seemed to believe victory was within his grasp. >> when i am president -- >> reporter: aides talked about a different mood and confidence. >> this is exciting, you know that. >> reporter: but as the results tipped towards president obama romney had to face the reality that he has lost his second presidential campaign. >> i think he understands here, too, whenever you enter a race like this, there's a chance you are going to lose and you have to be able to deal with it. he will. >> reporter: no question the defeat will be painful, with the second guessing. was it because of his inability to connect with everyday voters, his gaffe. >> 10,000 bucks. >> i like being able to drive people. >> ann drives a couple of cadillacs. >> reporter: or because of this, his new video. >> 47% of americans pay no income tax. >> mitt romney will regret the remark he made about 47% of americans not wanting to pay income taxes. that's one of the things he could have avoided. >> reporter: at 65 romney could run again, but in the past he's dismissed that as unlikely, and

his wife ann recently ruled it out. >> is that the end of politics for you and your husband? >> absolutely. there -- we -- he will not run again. >> reporter: even if they were interested, presidential historian michael beschloss believes the gop will move on and quickly. >> mitt romney will now, unfortunately, for him be cited by republicans as our problem in 2012. some republicans will say he wasn't conservative enough. that's why he lost. other republicans will say he was too moderate. that's the conflict we're now going to see for the next four years. >> reporter: most speculation is that romney will return to private life, spend time with his family, perhaps go back into business. >> romney has some advantages as the loser that other men in the past have not. he's already independently wealthy so he doesn't have to go out and find a job. >> reporter: that said, whatever romney ends up doing, most

politicians at mitt it takes more than a little while to recover from defeat. if his concession speech was any measure, mitt romney will publicly handle this defeat with tremendous grace, and savannah, i thought it might take 24 hours, but very early this morning i already heard speculation start about the presidential field for 2016 so it's never too soon. that's what we're going to be doing. >> jamie, it was actually about 24 seconds. i was up last night. that's how long it took. thank you so much. good to see you. >> sure. >> well, how are the election results playing overseas? nbc's michelle kosinski is in london with that part of the story. good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, savannah. it's been surprising to see the level of coverage here, and peel around the world staying up all night to watch the results and celebrate them. talking about how they see this election as important to their own futures, and the vast majority of them here pulling

for obama. in britain, special coverage of the american election started close to midnight. >> "titanic" struggles. >> reporter: with depth and detail. survival that within the u.s. marveling an ocean away at the american passion. >> they must be absolutely -- >> big turnouts across the country. >> reporter: americans perfectly cheerful, they said, to wait in line for hours to cast a ballot. here in london, an all-night watch party at a pub still carried this enthusiasm at 4:30 in the morning. >> nobody can deny the special relationship that we have with america. britain and america are one in the same. world leaders have to have a good rapport with each other. >> as women as well, we had real concerns about romney getting in. there were a lot of issues we didn't feel comfortable about, so while we didn't have an actual democratic say in the outcome, you know, we have a lot of interest. >> reporter: the world

participated in this election as much as it go. in pru, kenyan witch doctors, all walks of life, watching closely in miscou, berlin, beijing. israelis rallied behind romney after he said he'd support israeli action against iran, but some analysts estimated if the world outside u.s. had a vote it might go anywhere from 75% to 90% for obama. many seeing the american president as a force for peace as well as growth. >> the first is the economy. you have to remember that the u.s. is now recovering in a way that europe is not, and we look to you as a source of stability and growth for the rest of us. >> reporter: in paris they voted with their palates piggott an obama burger against a romney omelette and the town in japan declared obama for obama and in kenya where obama's father is from women have been giving thai newborns, the latest michelle obama, brian obama.

>> we are now extremely excited. we are happy. >> reporter: in a village of kogelo his step-grandmother sarah said he's worked hard. people on the rest of this planet celebrating their vote for ones they couldn't cast. world markets also responded positively this morning, and only hours after winning his next term, obama got his first order of foreign business courtesy of british prime minister david cameron saying he wants obama's help to do more to protect the people of syria, put more pressure on the assad regime and assist the rebels. savannah. >> just one in a long to-do list for the president. thanks, michelle. coming up next, big issue in the election, jobs. how to find them no matter what your age. but first this is "today" on nbc.

we're back now at 8:44.

this morning on "today's money," jobs and the economy. two defining issues with voters during the past campaign. election may be over but not concern over where things are headed and where to find work. jean chatzky is "today's" forecasts editor and author of "money rules" and sharon epperson is cnbc's personal finance correspondent. ladies, good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> the voting is still over, but there's still 7.9% of the american people looking for work. >> in fact a cnbc survey showed just this week that 27% of the public has lost a job or someone in their household has lost a job in the last four years, so this is top of mind for so many people. >> we're going to break this up into different age groups, okay, and we're talking about the people in their 20s. they are just embarking on their career. you actually think there may be some good news for this age group. >> absolutely. the folks at careerbuilder.com do a survey every year where they ask employers if they are planning on hiring college grads. 54% said yes this year. that's up almost ten percentage

points from the prior three careers. >> and if you've got a degree in business or you have some kind of a technical degree, have you a leg up over the competition in that age group. >> absolutely no doubt. but if you don't, you have to figure out how to take your skills and apply them in these areas that actually seem to be hiring. >> and let's not leave geography out of this. i mean, you can't just look and say, okay, here's my resume, i want a job. there are certain parts of the country, certain cities where you're going to have a better chance. >> right. we're talking about new york and washington, d.c., chicago, boston. if you are in your 20s, you're mobile. you don't typically have a whole bunch of responsibilities. this is when you go where those jobs are, particularly to those cities where there are more jobs than there are unemployed people. >> let me bump into the next age group then. now we're talking about workers in their 30s, all right. they want to find those jobs you just talked about, but they may not have training in those areas. they have already started their

careers in other areas. what do they do? >> they go back to school in many cases. we've seen trade school enrollments really pop because nine months to a year you can get a lot of those skills that you need. >> getting a certificate or accreditation to do certain jobs, that can definitely help. you may think i already have a college degree, a masters degree, why do i need to go back to school, you need the extra credential. >> just to back up the geography thing that we talked about. when you look at the overall job picture based on job postings, washington, 1.3 job postings for every one unemployed person, san jose, boston, raleigh, north carolina. >> and, again, have you to make your skills fit the jobs that exist, but this is where you're going to have a better shot. >> sharon, how much should people in this situation be considering temporary work? >> well, i think they definitely should. if you need a job, you need a job, and often these temporary jobs can lead to full-time employment. what we're seeing right now with the holiday season coming up is a lot of retailers in particular and many companies are ramping up their staffing for the

holiday season, and, in fact, a lot of -- one survey from snagajob.com found 50% of managers are ramping up their hiring and instead to keep those workers on perhaps full-time. >> take me into the next age category, and i mean by no offense to that. now we're going to talk about these people who are looking for jobs. they are in their 50s. what stands out? >> well, what stands out is the 1.9 million people in that age group that are still looking for work and what they really need to do is use the skills that they have and transfer them to other industries. they may also want to think about -- >> in other words, you've got experience. >> got experience, exactly. the areas you want to look at, energy, health care, look at financial planning and accounting and look at information technology, and think about the fact that if you've been laid off in financial services, maybe you can take those skills into the health care field. maybe can you go into sales at a hospital and you were doing that in financial services. >> and as long as -- i'm an equal opportunity here. now we're talking about these 50-year-olds so they are looking at retirement on the horizon.

>> they are. >> so it's important that they find work. it's also important that this stage of their lives they lower their cost of living. >> which may mean moving to a place where the cost of living is substantially lower, or if not, this is a time to trade down. this is a time to trade into a lower cost lifestyle so you then can save for retirement. >> that's a biggest change that a lot of people in their 50s need to make, and that's thinking about how they can really downsize their life, whether it's a home or whether it's moving to another place and one of the things we found on the cnbc survey is when you look at where the jobs are being created and where the cost of living is low, states like oklahoma, tennessee, texas, some of the states that you want to look at. >> real quickly, which of the age categories we just talked about would have any advantage, if any, in forming or starting their own small business at this stage. >> the boomers definitely because you have the experience. you already have the expertise and now is the time to start your own business, and we're seeing the numbers. doing it -- >> it's risky though. >> it's risky. >> if you've got a job.

don't quit a job to start it at business. you do it at night, moonlight and get into it that way. >> an encore career, start it while you're working, something you've always wanted to do and trying out and definitely do them at the same time. it's really important to always be thinking about what that encore career could be so you don't find yourself out of work for a long period of time. >> good information on a subject that will continue to make headlines. sharon epperson and jean chat y chatzky, appreciate it. need to get away? top destinations in the country

>> this morning on leonard's look of paint jobs that transformed a town. a town that went from drab to dazzling with a little imagination and a few paintbrushes. >> reporter: i had promised to return when the colors had transformed the landscape. when the last lingering clouds of doubt had finally given way to the vividly radiantly, brilliantly simple view that a basic change of colors could miraculously alter the fortunes of a small village. >> it was a miracle, you know. >> now everybody wants those colors. >> reporter: colors that have brightened the buildings and the prospects of centersville, new york, a rural community 50 miles south of albany.

ten years ago before its multi-year do-over, tansersville was a drab and standard portrait of your over the hill country town, not an acceptable sight for eleanor patterson, a native of south africa and the most colorful residents in tannersville. how can i make such a grandiose claim? i've been to her house. let's just say that elena is drawn to color. >> clearly. >> reporter: so are lots of other people, as elena, her husband and two sons have witnessed over time while viewing carload after carload of strangers drive by their hard-to-miss home in the nearby woods. >> that made me think that this is clearly something we need to do in town. >> reporter: lure the visitors with alluring colors and don't hold back. make a statement. make a splash. what's the worst that could happen? that was elena's bold proposal ten years ago to the often he is tants merchants and landlords of

centersville. skip pratt, owner of an unoccupied building on a street corner was the first to let elena have their wired with this tired looking structure. >> always some people that don't like the idea of change, but we needed a change. >> and people were up in arms after the beginning, especially after the first coats of paint went on. >> reporter: a creative conflict that first drew me to centersville back in the summer of 2003. after my initial story aired more media attention followed and that prompted more business owners to take the colorful plunge. the tide shifting and investment dollars from the royce family funds and other groups spurred a movement to preserve and rehab old buildings, including a renovation of this one shuttered orpheum theaters where musicians and dance troupes now appear. last summer musicians from new york city traveled to tannersville to lead a week-long workshop for local and visiting

schoolchildren. adding yet another layer of artistic value to a village and region blessed with yearly reminders that human are naturally drawn to the spectacle of change. in the adjacent village of hunter, new york, kenneth hamrick, director of the piano performance museum, plays the same piece of music on pianos made from different materials, by different-makers in different eras to make the musical point that it's the variance in tone and shading which makes life interesting. >> we don't want uniformity. >> not at all. >> exactly, and you haven't seen the end yet. >> reporter: for "today," mike leonard, nbc news, tannersville, new york. >> colors look awful good to us. >> beautiful. >> when the storm comes here. going to get gray here in a few minutes. >> it is. we can feel it, too.

just ahead, the drama of the presidential race and how it all unfolded last night and, of course, well into this morning. >> much more ahead on a wednesday morning, but first your local news and weather. >> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. lots of changes coming to maryland on the heels of the election. after all seven referendum questions passed on tuesday, question 7 passed with 52% of the vote. the measure allows table games of all maryland casinos and

approves a new casino site at prince george's county. prince george's county. voters also approved same- hey! hey, baby. [ starts car ] were you eating smoked sausage in here? no! no. could have gotten me one. i did.

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